The three-page application that turns a repaired salvage vehicle back into something that can be registered. A State Police inspector examines the identification number, and on a randomly selected proportion of vehicles every major component that was replaced. It ends with a title branded RECONSTRUCTED or RECOVERED THEFT - and it contains the sentence that matters most to anyone holding a salvage title.
Written against TTL109 (TTL109_0225, February 2025), issued under M.G.L. c.90D s.20D.
Read that first rule before advertising a salvage car. A private seller who simply signs a salvage title over to another private buyer has produced a transfer the Registry will not process, and the buyer discovers it at the counter rather than in the driveway.
Two documents, and they are not the same thing. Take the blank TTL109 from the mass.gov copy so you get the revision that is current today.
This is all 3 pages of the actual TTL109, rendered from the PDF the Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles publishes and completed end to end: letterhead, every field, and the blocks at the foot.
Amber — you write it
Grey — not yours to fill
Numbered — explained below
Page 1 of 3. The Registry's rules and the text of chapter 90D section 20D, printed side by side. The sentence a private seller needs is in the left column: except for a licensed dealer, a salvage title cannot be transferred from one private party to another.Page 2 of 3. Owner, vehicle and the owner's affidavit. The rebuilder block is greyed because this owner did the work; where a body shop did it, that block names them.Page 3 of 3. Twenty-six major components, each with a space for the part number or the receipt that covers it. A rebuild with no paperwork cannot fill this page in, which is the point of it.
Field by field
Every line, in the order you meet it
1
You fill this in
Pay the $50 first
At a Service Center or online, to MassDOT, and keep the receipt.
Watch out: The receipt is one of the five items the inspection site asks for. Arriving with the money but not the receipt does not work.
2
You fill this in
Book the appointment
An appointment is required and can be paid for and scheduled online; if the fee was already paid at a Service Center, the State Police salvage unit books it.
Watch out: There are several salvage inspection sites across the Commonwealth and they are State Police sites, not Registry counters.
3
You fill this in
Section B, the owner
Dealer or individual, name, addresses, email, telephone, identification number, date of inspection and signature.
Watch out: Tick Individual. The form is used by dealers and by private owners and the two are processed differently.
4
You fill this in
Section C, the vehicle
Vehicle identification number, year, make, model, colour, salvage title number and state, and the vehicle type.
Watch out: The salvage title number is not the number that was on the clear title before the loss. A salvage title is a new certificate with a new number.
5
Somebody else fills this in
Section D, the rebuilder
Completed where the repairs were done by somebody other than the owner.
Watch out: Leave it empty if you did the work yourself, and fill it in if a body shop did - the inspector will ask either way.
6
You fill this in
Section E, the owner's affidavit
Tick one of the two boxes - reconstructed, or stolen and recovered - then print your name and date the sworn statement.
Watch out: They are alternatives. A car rebuilt after a flood or a collision is the first box; the second is only for a vehicle that was stolen, written off and then found. Ticking both says two different things happened.
7
You fill this in
Page three, the parts
Twenty-six named components with a space beside each for the part number or the receipt that covers it.
Watch out: Bring the bills of sale themselves as well. Used parts need the identification number of the vehicle they came off, and a used air bag needs a copy of the donor vehicle's title.
At a glance
What goes where
On the form
What to put in it
A, Requirements and Instructions
A page of rules and the text of chapter 90D section 20D printed alongside it, including the five things to bring to the inspection: the completed application with the owner's sworn affidavit, the receipt for the $50.00 fee paid to MassDOT, ownership papers including the outstanding salvage title, the insurance appraisal report, and bills of sale for every major component part used to restore the vehicle.
B, Owner Information
Dealer or individual, name, address, mailing address, email, telephone, Social Security or federal identification or Massachusetts licence number, the date of inspection and a signature.
C, Vehicle Information
Vehicle identification number, year, make, model, colour, salvage title number and state, and the vehicle type from eight tick boxes.
D, Rebuilder Information
Completed where somebody other than the owner did the work.
E, Owner's Affidavit
Two tick boxes that are alternatives rather than a pair - one for a vehicle reconstructed or restored to the condition it was in before the loss, one for a total loss salvage vehicle that was stolen and recovered - then the owner's printed name and three sworn statements: that the identification numbers of the restored or recovered vehicle and its parts have not been removed, destroyed, falsified, altered or defaced; that the salvage title attached has not been forged, falsified, altered or counterfeited; and that everything on the application and its attachments is true.
Page three, major component parts
A column of twenty-six named parts - air bags, assemblies, bumpers, dash, each door, engine, fenders, hood, interior, nose assembly, pickup box, quarter panels, transmission and four miscellaneous lines - each with a space for a number or a receipt reference.
What gets this one rejected
•Turning up without the receipt. The $50.00 is paid to MassDOT first and the receipt is one of the five things the inspection requires.
•Used parts with no source vehicle identification number on the receipt. If the vehicle was restored wholly or partly with used parts, the receipts must contain the identification number of the vehicle each part came from.
•A used air bag bought after 1 January 2004 with no title for the donor vehicle attached, wherever it was bought.
•An inspection carried out in another state. Inspections by authorities elsewhere are not honoured unless a prior agreement exists, and all salvage-titled vehicles must be inspected in Massachusetts to be registered here.
•A New York salvage certificate on Form 907A, or a Connecticut title stamped salvage. Neither is accepted - a Massachusetts salvage title has to be obtained first.
Rules that decide whether it is accepted
•The sentence a private seller needs. Except for a licensed dealer, a salvage title cannot be transferred from private party to private party without the current owner first obtaining a salvage title in their own name, or completing the salvage process and obtaining the reconstructed or recovered theft title.
•It is not a safety inspection. The application says so twice. If the sticker was replaced with a rejection sticker at the time of the damage appraisal, a separate safety inspection follows once the vehicle is properly registered.
•Selection is random. Every vehicle's identification number is inspected. A proportion are also selected at random for a full major-component inspection, under criteria the Registrar sets by regulation.
•There is an appeal. A person aggrieved by an adverse inspector's report may request reconsideration in writing within thirty days, and a hearing officer must be assigned and the hearing held within thirty days of the request.
Every line here was read off TTL109 (TTL109_0225, February 2025) itself — the PDF is here — and off the Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles pages.
This is plain-language help with a form, not legal advice, and where our wording and the agency's differ,
theirs governs.
